Written by Julie Fox Within the Walls
By: Julie Fox a.k.a Katina Martínez
Email: xf_1013@hotmail.com
Rating: G
Category: A, MSR, V
Summary: Mulder and Scully lose nine minutes. Ever wonder what happens during that time?
Spoilers: Small reference to 'Memento Mori'.
Disclaimer: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully and the Walls are property of 1013 Productions, Chris Carter, and FOX.

"…those in search of truth shall find love and those in search of love shall find truth." -Scully

~~~~~~{Within the Walls}~~~~~~

"Mulder? What are you doing?" I ask. I watch as he rolls his window down for the second time and sticks his head outside, his hazel eyes searching the night sky while driving our car with one hand. The car soon begins to move out of the lane and into the grass and for the second time I place my hand on the steering wheel, moving the car until it is back in the center of the road again. Finally, he sticks his head back inside and rolls his window back up. "What did you say?

" "I asked you what you were doing." "Oh, you know, nothing." It was the same response he'd given me the last time I asked. "Did you see something?"

He shakes his head and sighs in disappointment. Just as I suspected. I glance out my window at the dark and empty road. It won't be long until we reach the motel we are staying in. On either side of us, large trees tower high into the sky, forming thick forests where anyone could easily get lost. There aren't any lights anywhere near us, making every star in the sky seem brighter than usual. I sigh and lean my head back, closing my eyes. I'm dead tired and all I want to do is get to my motel room, take a hot, hot shower, or better yet, a bubble bath, and then slip into bed and take a long, long nap. Ah, yes, that would be perfect… But Mulder as always, pulls me out of my pleasant thoughts with the sound of his voice. "Scully? Are you awake?"

"Yeah… or at least I am now." "You see that?" he asks me, pointing to a small, bright light in the sky. "Yes. It's a star," I tell him. "No, it can't be. It's moving." "Well then it's a shooting star." "But look at how it moves. Back and forth. And then perfectly still." "Then it's a plane." He stares at me. "It isn't a plane," he insists. "Mulder, I'm not gonna suggest it's a UFO, cause it isn't and UFO's don't exist anyway." I glance at the car's digital clock. Its glowing green numbers tell me it's 11:21. Suddenly Mulder chuckles. "What?" I ask. "Your 'plane' just disappeared into thin air," he informs me. I stare out the window, and sure enough, it's gone. All that remains are all the small stars sparkling in the sky. I groan. "Let's just get going Mulder. I'm tired." He speeds up a little and we continue down the dark road in silence. Seconds later, a brilliant, white light shines upon us, and we are blinded. I feel myself flying through the air and then landing roughly on a smooth, flat surface. Though every muscle in my body aches, I force my eyes open and attempt to lift myself up. But when I do, the world swirls and fades, and the darkness swallows me whole.

~~~~~~{The First Hour Within the Walls: Nothingness}~~~~~~

Darkness. It's all there is. Darkness all around me. I open my eyes in hopes of seeing something other than the eternal dark. But still all I can see is darkness. For a moment I wonder if I ever opened my eyes at all. I wonder if maybe they're still closed. I try to move, but I can't. I wonder if maybe I don't have my body anymore. Perhaps I am just my thoughts in this dark place. There's no way I can really tell if any of this is true. I can only be completely sure of one thing. I am thinking, therefore I am alive. And if I am alive, then my body is still with me. Perhaps I'm unconscious. That would explain why my body does not respond to my commands. Where am I though? How did I get here? What caused me to fall into this state of nothingness? Where's Mulder? Mulder… I'm certain he was with me before this. Where is he now? Is he hurt? Maybe he's in the same condition I am. I hope he is okay.

Suddenly I feel a sharp pain rip through my entire body. If I could open my mouth, I'd scream. It's gone in a few seconds though and I feel relieved once the pain is gone. Something is different now… I can *feel*. I think my senses are coming back to me. I can feel myself laying down on a cool, smooth surface. I can feel my blood pumping through my veins and my heart pounding in my chest. It's so cold. I wish Mulder was with me now. We could keep each other warm.

Something new happens to me now. The darkness fades away and is replaced by an incredible blinding light. The light is so intense it hurts my eyes even though I know they're closed. The pain I'm feeling now makes me almost wish the darkness would return. If I could move, I'd cover my eyes with my hands to shield them from the light. But after a while my eyes become accustomed to it and I feel much better. If only I could open my eyes and see where I am. I wish I could see Mulder and look into his eyes. It would make me feel a thousand times safer.

Just then, a shrill sound fills the air. The noise brings an incredible pain to my ears. If only I could move I'd cover them with my hands. But thankfully, the piercing sound is reduced to a gentle hum and gradually fades away. I know I have my sense of hearing back and I strain to hear the even slightest noise. But all I can hear is the sound of my slow, even breathing. Besides that, the only other thing I can hear is the silence. I wish I could hear the sound of Mulder's voice. He could whisper soothing words into my ear… I wish. And that's when I hear him. He's calling out my name. Calling out to me. I feel a bubble of joy form in my chest and rise high above me. "Scully…" I can hear you Mulder… "Scully…" I want to get up and run to him but I still can't move. "Scully." I try with all my might to get up. The harder I try, the louder I hear his voice. "Scully!" I'm coming, Mulder…

~~~~~~{The Second Hour Within the Walls: Confusion}~~~~~~

"SCULLY!!!"

I groan and turn over onto my back. All the muscles in my body ache terribly as if someone had beat me up and left me to die. At last I open my eyes and gaze upwards. At first all I see is a blur, but when my eyes finally focus, I realize that the ceiling is actually made of glass. With much effort, I sit up. I'm sitting on a glass floor, I notice. "Scully?" "Mulder?" Slowly, I turn around. The four walls surrounding me are also made of glass. "Where the hell are we?" I ask when I see him. "I don't know… are you okay?" "Yeah… I feel all beat up, but I'm fine, I guess." Suddenly I realize something very disturbing. Mulder is not in the same room as I am. We're in separate glass chambers that share one same wall. Painfully, I stand up and walk towards the glass wall and press my hands against it. It's crystal clear and freezing cold. Mulder also begins to examine the mysterious wall. I turn around to look at the other three walls. I can't see anything on the other side of any of them. I walk over to the wall parallel to the one I just inspected and try looking out. There's nothing but darkness. I can't even see my own reflection on the glass. The only wall I can see through is the one that connects Mulder's chamber and mine. "This is weird, Scully," he tells me.

"Tell me about it. I can't see anything outside. I can't even see my reflection on the glass," I say. "Yeah, and did you notice that there's light in here but no light source? And we can hear each other perfectly fine through these walls. They seem pretty thick." He pounds on the glass and shrugs at me. He's right. The walls are probably very thick and there's no way we'd be able to hear each other through them. And though both our rooms are dimly lit, I can't find the place the light is coming from. I sigh and sit back down on the cold floor while Mulder continues searching for a way out or anything else. Eventually he gives up and sits down too.

"What's the last thing you remember before we ended up here?" he asks. "We were driving to our motel… and then there was a light…" I pause for a moment, playing all the events of that night in my head. Then I remember the little white light we saw in the night sky before we ended up here. I look up and see him looking back at me expectantly. "Oh, no, Mulder. You're not gonna tell me we were abducted or something?" He shrugs at me. "You never know…" I groan. "We were not abducted, Mulder. There's a perfectly scientific explanation for this." "Yeah, I'm sure there is," he scoffs. I glare at him, move away to the far end of my glass room and lean against the wall. Sighing, I look at my watch. My eyes widen when I notice that it has stopped at 11:21.

~~~~~~{The Third Hour Within the Walls: Desperation}~~~~~~

It's been about an hour since we arrived here, wherever we are. Mulder and I haven't exchanged a word since our last conversation and for the better part of the hour we sat in silence just thinking. I still refuse to believe that we were abducted, though I can't think of anything else that would explain where we are and how we got here. A while ago I realized that I still have my weapon, which makes me feel more scared than safe. Whoever kidnapped us obviously doesn't feel threatened by Mulder and I to have let us keep our guns. I glance over at Mulder, who at some point must've gotten up again to explore the walls. "Give it a rest, Mulder," I tell him. I doubt he even heard me speak to him. He seems to be concentrating really hard on something, so I decide it'll be useless to repeat myself since he's probably forgotten I exist. Sighing, I lay down on the cold glass. Maybe I'm dreaming, I think to myself before my eyes slip shut and I fall helplessly into a peaceful dream.

~ ~ ~

Mulder stands a few inches away from one of the four walls that made up his room, studying it carefully. He's trying to figure out why he can see his reflection on it as if it were a mirror, whereas three minutes ago when he started examining it, he couldn't see his reflection at all. Must be some weird alien technology, he thinks, smiling at what Scully would have to say about that. After some time, he decides he's had enough and sits down, leaning his back against the glass. He checks his watch and smiles at what he discovers. "Hey, Scully, I'll bet your watch stopped at 11:21." Smiling, he turns to look at her and realizes she's lying on the floor. He stands up and walks to the wall that connects their rooms. She seems to be sleeping as far as he can tell. For a few moments he watches her closely, trying to make sure she's okay. But he refuses to give up on her and pounds on the glass with all his might, ignoring the pain he's beginning to feel in his fingers. "SCULLY!!!"

He stops for a moment, and a sudden wave of fear and desperation wash over him. All he ever wanted was to love and protect her. But all he'd ever accomplished was to do the opposite. All of a sudden, the four walls surrounding him move forward about half a foot. He spins around, cautiously eyeing the walls of the room that had just shrunk around him. He stands there, frozen with fear, straining to hear any other sound besides that of his ragged breathing and his heart pounding wildly in his chest. Drops of sweat pour down the side of his face and fall onto the glass floor. Again the room shrinks around him. Instinctively, he reaches for his gun and fires at the wall. But the bullet only falls to the floor without even scratching the glass. He lowers his gun and stares at the wall incredulously. His brow creased in confusion and anger, he proceeds in emptying his gun's entire clip on the glass walls. But his gun is useless and does nothing to the walls. Throwing his empty gun angrily at the floor, he retreats to a corner in his room and sits there, head in hands, wishing he had saved a bullet so he could shoot himself.

~~~~~~{The Fourth Hour Within the Walls: Discovery}~~~~~~

Mulder sits slumped by the wall now, concentrating deeply on the steady rise and fall of his partners' chest as she breathes in and out. A couple of minutes after his outrage, he'd sat there and realized that she was breathing and therefore, alive. But he still can't tell if she's conscious or not and this continues to worry him a great deal. His gaze moves up and down her small body. She looks so relaxed, so peaceful, just lying there on her back, one arm draped loosely over her stomach. , he thinks to himself. And the walls move forward again. It's the third time they move and though he can't explain why or how they move, he doesn't worry about them too much. The only thing he cares about at this moment is Scully and her well being. He continues to watch her, silently praying to God or anyone who would listen to bring her back to him. Someone must've heard him, because just then, Scully awakes. She opens her eyes slowly, blinks a few times as she remembers where she is and sits up. "Sleepy beauty awakes," mumbles Mulder, still sitting slumped against the wall, feeling half relieved that Scully is perfectly fine and half embarrassed that he'd gotten so worried about her for nothing.

~~~

The minute I look at him I know that something awful must have happened while I was sleeping. His hair is a total mess and his eyes are red and tired as though he'd been crying. And then there are the more obvious signs, such as his gun, which sits in a corner of the room for no purpose and the bullets that lay dispersed on the glass floor. Standing up, I walk over to the connecting wall and kneel down beside him. "How long have I been asleep?" I ask. "About an hour. Maybe more," he says grimly. Suddenly I notice that Mulder is trying to hide his hands from me. He's rather unsuccessful though, and I'm able to get a glimpse of his red knuckles. "Mulder? What happened?" "Nothing," he replies coldly, looking away from me. "Fine," I tell him. I can't understand why he's being so cold and uncooperative with me. I get up and walk to the opposite side of my room and stand there for a moment, arms crossed across my chest, looking at my reflection in the glass. *My reflection.* I'm sure I couldn't see my reflection before… How come I can see it now? I turn around to face Mulder again. "Mulder, did you notice-" But as soon as I see him I stop talking. He's moved a little so that his cheek is pressed against the glass and his eyes are looking down at his hands. My heart swells with compassion for him. Sighing, I walk back to where he's sitting and kneel down in front of him. "Hi," I say, offering him a smile. At last he looks at me, and smiling, he whispers, "Hey…" I remain silent, sensing that there's something else he wants to tell me. Mulder looks away from me as he begins to speak.

"When you fell asleep, I- I thought someone had done something to you and since I was so busy looking around I didn't even notice. And you wouldn't wake up no matter how hard I yelled and-" he pauses and looks into my eyes before finishing his sentence. "I was scared," he admits at last. Suddenly I feel guilty of falling asleep like that and then not being patient and understanding with Mulder when he wouldn't talk to me. "I'm sorry," I tell him. A few seconds pass until he shifts, now pressing his forehead against the glass, his eyes dark and unreadable, burning into mine. I see his hands again and the doctor in me forces me to reach out to examine his hand, but my own hand only collides with the glass. It's so crystal clear you don't know it's there until you touch it. "Mulder?"

He responds by placing his palms flat on the glass. Slowly I place my hands against his on wall. The second my hand touches the wall we gasp and pull away, confusion and amazement written on our faces. "Scully… did you…?" "Yeah" We place our hands on the glass again. "Whoa…" Mulder exclaims. Somehow, we can *feel* each other's hands as if the glass wall wasn't there at all…

~~~~~~{The Fifth Hour Within the Walls: Fear}~~~~~~

"How…?" My voice trails off as Mulder begins to stroke the palm of my hand with his fingers. He's doing it unconsciously and I doubt he has any idea as to how much it's affecting me and my ability to think clearly. It amazes me how Mulder's simple touch always has such a huge effect on me. "I can see you, I can hear you, I can even feel you… and yet we're still separated by…" He releases a frustrated sigh and stands up. Slowly, I bring my hands down from the wall and place them in my lap feeling somewhat disappointed that he's pulled his hands away so soon. "Where the hell are we?" he asks. I don't even try to answer him. I haven't the slightest idea as to where we might be if this isn't some bad dream. I watch Mulder as he rakes his fingers through his hair, grimaces, and looks down at his right hand. "I wish you were over here… I think I might've broken something." He raises his hand for me to see. His index finger is definitely fractured from what I can tell. It's quite swollen and shades of purple and green. Other than that, all his remaining fingers seem to be fine. "Can you bend your index finger?" He shakes his head. "It looks fractured, Mulder," I inform him. He nods at me. I decide it's best not to ask him how he fractured his finger, mainly because I already have a vague idea as to what happened and because I doubt he'll want to tell me anyway. My eyes move away from his hand to his face and I just stare at him for a while, lost in my thoughts. Then, out of nowhere, I get an overwhelming urge to tear down the walls and wrap my arms around him. I care about him so much… And the walls move. Gasping, I turn to face the walls of my shrinking room. "What's wrong?" Mulder asks me. "The walls-they just moved…" I say in a shaky voice. "Oh… they do that sometimes," he replies casually. I stand up slowly and press my back flat against the connecting wall, never taking my eyes off of the other three walls.

"They-they do?" "Yeah. While you were sleeping, my walls moved too," he tells me. "Do you know how? Or why?" "No." He places his hand on the glass, but I can feel it on the small of my back. Slowly, I turn around. When our eyes meet, he smiles at me. "It's okay. They stop moving when you stop thinking about them," he says in a soft and soothing voice. I gaze into his eyes, trying not to think about the walls, trying not to think of anything. This only proves to be impossible as my thoughts wander to the way Mulder's looking at me. His hazel eyes are burning intensely into mine and it almost feels as though he's reading my thoughts. My breath catches in my throat as his mouth parts and his tongue darts out to moisten his lips. And just when I feel I might erupt into flames, the walls move again. I gasp and close my eyes, swallowing hard. "I'm scared," I say at last. It's not something I'd normally admit to being, but I don't really care right now. I just want him to tell me that it's okay, that I'm safe and nothing's going to happen. "It's okay, Scully. Nothing is going to happen, you're safe," he says. I can't help but chuckle. *He just read my mind.* "What?" he asks. "Oh, it's nothing…" I tell him, still smiling. "Nothing, huh?" "Yeah. Nothing," I say. I smile at him and he smiles back. "You're welcome," he whispers. My fear is gone.

~~~~~~{The Sixth Hour Within the Walls: Talking}~~~~~~

It's been a while since Mulder and I last spoke. Not that I really mind much; there's nothing to talk about anyway. The walls haven't moved again and my fear of them has diminished. And of course, the feel of Mulder's back against mine makes me feel a thousand times safer. I can't remember exactly how we ended up sitting like this, so that we're both leaning our backs against the connecting wall. I can feel him and the warmth of his body seeping into mine. It's a nice, reassuring feeling to know that he's right there, close to me. And although I hate the walls because they separate him from me, I'm also grateful that they allow me to see, hear and feel him. "Scully?" "Yeah?" "Just making sure you were still awake." "Oh… well, as tired as I am, I'm not sleeping." "That's good." I smile at the absurdity of our conversation. "So, Mulder, when do you think we'll wake up from this nightmare?" "I don't know, Scully, it seems to me that we're already awake." I shift so that I'm leaning my shoulder against the wall. "Mulder, this has to be a dream. A place like this exists nowhere on earth! Or anywhere else for that matter," I quickly add. "Well, if this is a dream, then you can control it, right?" "Well, I don't kn-" "Sure you can. When I was a kid, I kept having the same nightmare over and over again. My mother told me that I could change the dream and make it better 'cause I was in control of it. So I did. You *can* change your dreams." "Ok, then, assuming you can control your dreams, wha-" "So change it and get us out of here!" I pause to think about this for a moment. "Maybe this isn't my dream, Mulder. Maybe it's yours." "I'm pretty damn sure I'm not dreaming, Scully. And neither are you." We both turn around to face each other. "We were abducted," I say sarcastically. "By who?" He shrugs. "Do you think the government's behind this?" I ask. "Not really. We haven't done much to annoy them lately…" he replies. "Aliens…?" "It's possible." I sigh. I'm not in the mood to argue with him about this. "I do have another theory though," he tells me. I arch an eyebrow in response. "I was thinking… you remember that light?" I nod.

"Well, what if we had… an accident?" "An accident? Mulder, the road was totally empty. Are you suggesting that a truck or a train or something came out of nowhere and hit us?" "No… although I like the idea of a ghost train," he replies with a smile. I shake my head. "And this is what? Heaven?" I ask. He considers this for a moment. "Nah, I'd say it's more like… hell." "Oh, well, that certainly makes me feel a lot better. Hell. I didn't think I was *that* bad." We share a brief smile. "Y'know Mulder, I like your alien abduction theory a lot better." He laughs. "Yeah, me too." There's a brief moment of silence before Mulder speaks again. "All joking aside now, Scully, doesn't this place feel kind of… I don't know… familiar somehow? Like we've been here before?" I look away from him. I didn't really want to admit it, but it's true. "Yeah, like déjà vu," I say softly. We sigh. Deep down, we know we're not in any of the places we discussed. We aren't dreaming, we weren't abducted by anyone or anything and we most certainly aren't dead. This is a familiar place; a place that's always been close to us. So close that we've overlooked the possibility that we might actually be there. But we *are* here whether we want to be or not, and until we realize this and accept it, we won't be able to leave. Mulder was right about one thing though. *We are in control.*

~~~~~~{The Seventh Hour Within the Walls: Silence}~~~~~~

Again silence fills the air as we sit in our respective chambers, allowing our recent conversation sink into our minds. We both seem to have a vague idea as to where we are now. It's a wild idea and that's probably why we haven't been able to accept it entirely. I look up at Mulder only to find him looking back at me. In his eyes, I can see that he's thinking the same thing I am. He opens his mouth to say something, but instead he stops himself and shakes his head deciding it's useless to even try to tell me. I look down at my hands, trying to straighten out all the facts in my mind. I want to say something too, but I don't know how to say what I want to say without sounding completely crazy. I get a terrible desperate feeling inside of me and groan. I wish there was something that could prove to me with certainty that we are where I think we are. But until then, I guess it's best if the silence take over for a while. It'll give me more time to think this whole thing out properly, at least. I sigh and slowly retreat to the far corner of my room, lay there and curl up as if to go to sleep. Mulder sees me, but he doesn't seem to care much if I doze off again. We both know that we are in no danger. The only threat to our lives in these walls is ourselves. He, too, moves to a corner and leans his back against the wall, a pensive gaze on his face. It's the only thing that could possibly explain everything that's happened. Why the walls move, why we can sometimes see our reflections in them, why we can see, hear and even *feel* each other through them. I want to believe it and at the same I just can't. It *is* possible, though. Having spent so much time working with Mulder, investigating cases involving liver-eating mutants, man-eating mushrooms, a global conspiracy and the colonization of our planet by extraterrestrial beings has led me to believe that just about anything is possible. And that's when I see it. It's just a tiny golden blur from where I am, but still noticeable. I lift my head up and squint in an effort to see it better but I still can't make out what it is. I sigh and get up on my feet. Straightening out my blouse with my hands, I cautiously walk over to the other corner of my room and kneel down in front of the wall. My face is an inch away from the wall when I'm finally able to make out what the tiny golden letters inscribed on the glass say. "No…" I whisper.

My first reaction is to pretend I didn't see it. To pretend that it's not there. I glance over at Mulder who is now standing by the connecting wall looking at me with curiosity. I see his lips move and I know that he's speaking to me but I can hear a single thing he's saying. I look at the letters on the wall again. This can't be happening. But it is. This whole thing is really happening and I'm here witnessing it. I shut my eyes and shake my head refusing to accept the truth. But what I've just seen is the final piece of evidence I needed to confirm my suspicions. Now I'm sure of where I am. I'm inside the walls. *My* walls. I take one last look at the small gold letters that spell out the truth in fine handwriting: "These walls are property of Dana Scully."

~~~~~~{The Eighth Hour Within the Walls: Truth}~~~~~~

Property of Dana Scully. Dana Scully. My name. I trace over the letters with my finger. I built these walls. And even though I did it unconsciously, I remember it very clearly. I designed and built them all by myself. They belong to me. "Scully, what's wrong?" Mulder asks me. I can't hear him speak to me, though. I'm too busy trying to remember why I built the walls. To protect myself, of course. This is my glass fortress, my haven. Its purpose is to protect me. But from whom?